1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to line trimming devices and, more specifically, to a device having a plurality of cutting members being mounted onto a frame and connected to a motorized central shaft by a number of pulleys and belts and wherein said frame is rotatable around said central shaft.
The cutting members are comprised of a rotatable shaft being mounted to the periphery of a rotatable frame and having a pulley attached thereon that is connected by a belt to a central motorized shaft providing means for rotating said cutting member shaft and wherein said cutting member shaft has a rigid cutting blade attached thereto and said blade having a length of flexible line attached thereon whereby when said cutting member shaft is rotated the circumference of the rigid blade will be exceeded by the circumference of the attached rotating flexible line.
Further each cutting member has a guard ring mounted over the rigid blade being of substantially similar diameter as the rigid blade.
When a cutting member encounters a stationary object the cutting member guard ring will prevent the stationary object from making contact with the rigid blade as the stationary object causes the cutting member's frame to rotate. As the cutting member passes the stationary object the flexible line attached to the rigid blade, having a rotatable circumference greater than the guard ring, will trim the vegetation from said stationary object whether said stationary object is basically round, such as pipes, flag poles, and trees or rectangular, such as, fence posts.
Still further said device having height adjustment means can easily be positioned whereby one of the cutting members can travel beneath fencing rails thereby removing vegetation until encountering a fence post whereupon said cutting member will trim said vegetation from said fence post as it is rotated away from said fence post and another cutting member rotates into position under said fence rails until encountering another fence post whereupon the process is repeated.
In addition, another embodiment has been provided wherein said device can be incorporated into the hydraulic system of a motorized vehicle such as a tractor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other line trimmer housing attachments designed to convert line trimmers to wheeled cutting assemblies. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,683 issued to Smith on Feb. 22, 1994.
Another patent was issued to Savell on Jul. 12, 1988 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,147. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,701 was issued to McGuerty on May 10, 1994 and still yet another was issued on May 24, 1994 to Smothers as U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,770.